Coach Interview : Midland University

At our 2012 Showcase event, Soccer coaches from all over the U.S visited London to scout FirstPoint USA's International talent for their teams. We took some time out from watching the soccer games, to catch up with some of the coaches to find out why they travel so far to recruit, and what they look for in a candidate. One of the coaches in particular is pretty unique to FirstPoint USA.  Craig Hughes came through FirstPoint USA , securing a soccer scholarship to Grand View University in Iowa where he had a very successful athletic career as team captain for the Vikings.  After graduating, Craig worked for FirstPoint USA in our Clearing department helping broker deals for other soccer scholarship hopefuls.  Craig was then offered a place at Midland University in Nebraska as Assistant Head Coach for the Men's Soccer team there whilst he earns his Masters degree in Business Marketing. From his background, Craig knows pretty much all there is to know about FirstPoint USA, which is why he has traveled from Nebraska to scout for new talent at our 2012 Soccer Showcase where we caught up with him...

About Midland University

Midland University is a liberal arts college located in the heart of Fremont, Midland in Nebraska - 25 minutes from Omaha.  About 1000 students from all over the world attend Midland, with nearly 60% residing on campus which creates a close knit community feel to the University. With a 10:1 student to faculty ratio, and an average class size of 18 - students have full access to professors and receive personal attention from their advisors.  Midland has over 45 majors and pre-professional programs and is known as a leader in 4 fields : education, business, nursing/medical sciences and human performance.

Midland University Athletics

Midland University athletic teams are known as the Warriors. The school is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), competing in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) for most sports. It currently sponsors 25 varsity sports programs, including 11 men’s teams, 12 women’s teams and co-ed cheer and dance programs. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cheerleading, cross country, dance, football, golf, shotgun sports, soccer, tennis, track & field (indoor & outdoor) and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, cheerleading, cross country, dance, golf, lacrosse, shotgun sport, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field (indoor & outdoor), volleyball and wrestling. In addition to featuring most traditional sports, Midland has added women’s lacrosse,Men’s and women’s bowling, Men’s and women’s wrestling and shotgun sports since 2010. During the 2011-12 school year, 12 Midland athletic teams reached postseason play, including men’s basketball, volleyball, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, men’s bowling, women’s bowling, men’s wrestling, women’s indoor track & field, women’s outdoor track & field, dance, cheer and softball. Midland football matched their highest national ranking since 1995 at No. 9.Midland also produced its first individual wrestling national champion, Jahsua Marsh, and an individual national champion in the women’s outdoor high jump: Mariah Toussaint in 2011-12

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